Looting

US authorities return a $3.7m trove of antiquities to Greece

Many of the 30 objects being repatriated are linked to the disgraced dealers Michael Ward and Robin Symes

The long and curious journey of the British Museum's Asante Ewer

The museum is investigating how the English-made jug turned up in West Africa before being seized during the 19th-century Anglo-Ashanti wars

‘I've never unearthed anything this big in my life’: Assyrian sculpture with rich history dug up in northern Iraq

The 2,700-year-old lamassu—a protective deity—had been excavated previously, in 1992, but was reburied for its protection

US authorities return 33 looted antiquities to Cambodia

The artefacts belonged to the late collector George Lindemann and were turned over to authorities voluntarily by his family

Manhattan District Attorney's Office seizes $5m bronze bust in Turkish repatriation sting

The sculpture, which depicts a daughter of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, is the second out-of-state item to be seized by the Antiquities Trafficking Unit

More stolen archaeological treasures return to Italy from the US

The Menil Collection denies claims in an Italian police statement that 60 of the disputed artefacts were housed at the Texas museum

Antiquities trafficking is not ‘the third largest illicit trade in the world’, researchers claim

New report traces the origins of the oft-repeated superlative, which its authors say is incorrect and actually makes it harder to fight trafficking

California man on trial for allegedly importing Roman mosaic looted during Syrian civil war to US

Mohamad Yassin Alcharihi is accused of misrepresenting the true value of a mosaic that was looted from Syria in 2015

Looted artefacts linked to disgraced British dealer Robin Symes returned to Italy

Restitution follows the return of 350 Neolithic and Byzantine objects from the same source to Greece

Sudannews

Sudan conflict: pro-democracy artists under attack and museums at risk of looting, sources say

Leading artists and museum professionals raise fears as violence erupts in Khartoum

Antiquities trafficking investigator appointed president of Harvard Law Review—a position once held by Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Barack Obama

Apsara Iyer says looting of Indian temples was a "wake-up call" to understanding how cultural heritage and crime intersect

Denver Art Museum returns donations from associate of antiquities smuggler Douglas Latchford

The museum has issued a statement further distancing itself from the late Emma Bunker, who allegedly falsified provenance for items looted from Cambodia

US officials return antiquities looted from Iraq Museum in 2003

The artefacts, cylinder and stamp seals dating back thousands of years, were seized after a US collector tried to sell one in an online auction

Stolen statue linked to antiquities trafficker Doris Wiener repatriated to Cambodia

The sandstone vishnu statue was stolen from a seventh-century temple and smuggled to Manhattan in 1995, when it was sold to a private collector

Qatari sheikh’s rare ivory mask, stolen from Benin City by the British, is one of five on public display—none in Nigeria

The 16th-century mask was withdrawn from sale at Sotheby’s over a decade ago amid escalating calls for restitution

V&A likely to return looted Asante gold treasures to Ghana

Museum’s director Tristram Hunt wants to loosen regulations on restituting artefacts seized by British forces in the 19th century

Ukraine gets emergency Red List for art as evidence mounts of 'trading networks flowing West'

The International Council of Museums has worked with Interpol to create the list, with border patrols on "high alert" to seize art stolen from Ukrainian museums—but is it too late?

Oxford and Cambridge universities approve returning 213 looted Benin bronzes to Nigeria

Charity Commission could veto the decision to repatriate objects from Ashmolean Museum and Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Nearly 20 years after the invasion of Iraq, an artist revisits the looting of the national museum in Baghdad

The Iranian-born artist Abbas Akhavan’s installation at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver re-stages a scene captured at the Iraq Museum in 2003

Seized antiquities sent from Ukraine to go on show at British Museum

Hoard of medieval metalwork had been illegally mailed to the UK, and will be sent to Kyiv museum when safe to do so

The hunt for looted Cambodian objects—are they hidden in the West's museums?

Plus, the dark truth of the Marcos family’s extravagance and Ruth Asawa at Modern Art Oxford

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Saving Ukraine’s heritage: an eyewitness account of relief efforts

Plus, the Cezanne blockbuster at The Art Institute of Chicago and Nicola L.’s Gold Femme Commode at Alison Jacques

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Three looted Palmyra sculptures seized in Geneva freeport return to Syria

The two funerary reliefs and the head of a priest were exhibited at the Musée d’art et d’histoire in Geneva in 2017

Major art trade groups join forces to stop looted Afghan artefacts reaching Western market

International trade groups including top British antique dealers vow to oppose trade of Afghan heritage artefacts under Taliban control

Looted 2,700-year-old bricks—discovered in Swiss warehouse—are returned to Iran

Before the discovery of the more than 50 painted blocks, “the richness of Mannaean civilisation had not been appreciated”, expert says

US hands over two stolen ancient lintels to Thailand after retrieving them from the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

Dating from the ninth and tenth centuries, the objects are thought to have been looted from sacred sites in the late 1960s

Lootnews

Looted Libyan sculpture seized at Heathrow Airport heads back home with help from the British Museum

The funerary piece was illicitly excavated from the ancient city of Cyrene which is under threat from property developers

Mosul Cultural Museum rises from the ravages of Isis

Painstaking reconstruction by multi-agency task force is salvaging what artefacts remain after Islamic State occupation

Podcastspodcast

Benin bronzes: looted treasures will return to Nigeria at last

Plus, the newly discovered Van Gogh is sold and artist Rana Begum on Tess Jaray

Hosted by Ben Luke and Aimee Dawson. with guest speakers Catherine Hickley and Martin Bailey. Produced by Julia Michalska, David Clack and Henrietta Bentall